Business & Economics Perspective Blogger

It's time for a bit of Chinese language Throwback Thursday. I remember how the Chinese school can be summarized as students  memorizing without understanding . The problem wasn't the Lǎoshīs (老師) but the system that ran them as persons . I decided to write this article to " bring up a trauma " associated with the Chinese education system. From Kiko Chinese, this picture shows the common complaints from children. Standard Chinese is so hard! The Chinese schools tend to lose students because they keep failing in Grade 2 or Grade 2 in Chinese. In fact, I remember someone failing Chinese four times back in the 1990s. Another one was three years in Grade 3 Chinese, where the Chinese teacher was even stricter than the Grade 2 Chinese teacher. The real issue was that there wasn't any real learning because the old traditional Chinese system wasn't doing anything right . People were treated as if Hokkien were their first language. However, we realize that people can...

Many people want to be rich, but not so many people want the discipline on how to be rich. Isn't that the plain hard truth ? As I do this sideline blog , I contemplated whether I should write another post after writing several posts years back, or when I wrote about Venezuela as a cautionary tale . Back on topic, I thought about how financial discipline is something often overlooked. It's easy to talk about Christmas since that's probably the most wonderful time of the year to be spendthrift , only to find out that one's broke by the New Year . The cycle of reckless financial habits tends to restart in January, even when January becomes that time of reckoning between debtors and creditors! January 2026 will end, February 2026 comes, and then the cycle of financial recklessness continues. It's the same cycle over and over! Last Christmas, I remember how DTI Secretary Christina Roque spoke about the PHP 500.00 noche buena, for a family of four . I called it tactless b...

The Sunday Guardian Years ago, I wrote about Venezuela's pride and protectionism , under a more "formal" style of writing compared to my latest posts. I decided to use an even "less formal" and "less academic" tone since I'm not writing a term paper. Instead, it's like how a professor and a student discuss the thesis using first person over third person, using contractions, etc., while the thesis doesn't use such tones. Back on track, I thought about the arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro can spark debate. Was it a violation of sovereignty? I'm no expert on international law. However, Venezuelans can be seen celebrating Maduro's arrest. Right now, I'm using Gemini AI and Google search to help me find some sources for this blog. It's because I don't want my blog to become another gossip central, but a place to discuss facts with my own personal opinions (making sure they don't  derail the facts).  I used Venezuela ...

Harvard Health Publishing It's almost time for the New Year, right? However, there's the problem that so many Filipinos just refuse to do any financial New Year's resolutions . It's a continued series of broken New Year's resolutions year after year , such as not doing anything about one's financial and economic literacy . Then again, can Filipinos learn financial literacy when the school environment is  too theoretical ? As I observe the same cycle in the Philippines, from January to December, it has always been a financial mess for many Filipinos. The problem starts with mishandling money, such as how paychecks are often handled by people .  There's always some joy in spending, whether we want to admit it or not We can't deny that if we bought what we want (especially with one's own money), there's some feeling of satisfaction . For example, a person who stops begging from their parents and starts buying what they want, with  their money , can ...

Lessandra When it's Christmas, it's so easy to think of the song of the late Andy Williams, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". The music itself reeks of toxic positivity,  whether one likes it or not. It's a shame, really, because December 20 was also the anniversary of Asia's Titanic, the sinking of the Doña Paz ! We live in a society that somehow never learns from its mistakes, like a person who's stuck in gambling debt, is still hoping to get rich gambling . Despite all that, Christmas toxic positivity still abounds in the Philippines. We still have a lot of ongoing bad habits, such as starting Christmas in September and then doing last-minute Christmas shopping during the week of Christmas. That's why every time I drive on the road on Christmas, I tend to shout, "Isn't it any wonder why the Philippines never improves?" The term Noche Buena has evolved over time . For some, it's simply the Christmas dinner. However, so...

Here's a picture from the Dose of Disbelief Page on Facebook. Here's something that it wrote: Filipinos once trusted locally made products more than imports. Before World War II, the label "Made in the Philippines" carried prestige, not stigma, reflecting a strong sense of national confidence in domestic production. Local products such as shoes, cigars, textiles, furniture, and food were often preferred over imports. This preference was rooted in the belief that local goods were better adapted to local conditions, tastes, and were often of comparable, if not superior, quality. This period showcases a strong historical era of consumer nationalism and thriving local industries. We need to look into the context of Filipino history  If we look at the Philippine history timeline , we must account for 1935-1940, during which the Philippines was under the Commonwealth government. Independence was declared from Spain on June 12, 1898. However, there was a transition period w...

I decided to do a portfolio review, especially because Christmas to New Year is around the corner . I thought about checking my AXA Chinese Tycoon Fund. For the sake of confidentiality , I wouldn't give out the exact loss. I was tempted to sell my AXA Chinese Tycoon Fund (which was at a paper loss , not an actual loss) and go for cryptocurrency . However, after looking at the ghost of Quadriga-CX Crypto Scam  made I said, "I need to stick to what Warren Buffett said about the stock market." Buffett's advice doesn't require an MBA or even a PhD in business administration to understand them. Instead, I was looking at these lessons that Buffett such as: If I'm not willing to open to own a stock for 10 minutes, I shouldn't think of owning it for ten years! Definitely no day trading for me! The stock market is a device that transfers money from impatient people to patient people. I have to be more patient as the stock market inevitably corrects itself, unless t...

I have the tendency to use my MBA as a license to avoid criticism. It's a real problem that some people use their credentials and/or academic achievements to try and win an argument. One incident I wrote about was Rep. Raoul Abellar Manuel flexing his "smarts" by using his cum laude degree to win the argument . It was all about how I would often say, "You're the moron because I have the MBA and you don't." There are times I felt like taking an MBA would make up for my "moral shortcomings" during high school when I was barely passing (and the passing rate was 80% , which is rather high), that I wasn't having honors, and that there was this saying, " Thou grades shalt determine thy future! " That, of course, has led to the reality where cheating is prevalent .  I wanted to make a review. I took my MBA in 2011 and graduated in 2014. I always felt that the MBA program was what I needed to become "invincible". It was also at ...